Electrical transmitting means for speaking announcements



Feb. 27, 1940.

A; FINDLAY 2,191,612

ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING MEANS FOR SPEAKING ANI I'JUNCEMENTS Filed Aug.9, 1938 5 Sheets-Shet 1 FIC5.2

A TTORNEy Feb. 27, 1940.

A. FINDLAY ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING MEANS FOR SPEAKING ANNOUNCEMENTSFiled Aug. 9, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 LIP RINGS 4o Pom!" comm tator opflmrims KEy 6 Trek/w: v

ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING MEANS FOR SPEAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS ArTbR/vey Feb.27, 1940. A. FINDLAY 2,191,612

ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING MEANS FOR SPEAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS Filed Aug. 9,1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 F l G. ll

/VVENTOR A 7'TORNEY A. FINDLAY Filed Aug. 9, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 5INVETOR AT'roRA/Ey m nk UNITED stares ear-Em; ()FFaCE ELECTRICALTRANSMITTING MEANS-Foe I SPEAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS Albert Findlay,Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as

Signor to John B; Eros Canada st, Westmount, Quebec, 7

Application August 9, 1933, serial No 223,931

EOlaims. (01. 179 -6) 1 (if;

The invention relates to an electrical transi mitting means for speakingannouncements, as

described in the present specification and illus' trated inthe'accompanying drawings that form'- part of the same.

The invention consists essentially in establishing an operatingconnection from an electric transmission line to a talking machine,voicing record messages denoting the time of day or night and sundryother matters, as pointed out in the claims'for novelty following adescription'in detail of theparts and the operation throughout. Theobjects of the invention are to furnish to the public anautomatieinquiry bureauin which the answers 'are preparecl previoustothe interpellation of the person requiring the infor mation anddelivered'in the way of an automatonsuch'. as answering the oft repeatedquestion, what is the time of dayfwhereby the trials of the telephoneoperator in answering calls are very much relieved by having theuninterrupted announcements made repeatedly from minute to minute orfrom'second to second as desired, and always subject to tapping by anyperson desiring to know the time during the day or night while thetelephone service is operating; and to make if required, inserts in theinformation that'will announce other good news to the public in the wayof advertising or various pieces of informag tion usually often in theform of stock phrases,

and otherwise; and generally to add to the con Figure 3 is adiagrammatical view showingthe hollow shaft with the rod carryingv theelectric eye and the commutator.

Figure 3111 is a front elevational view showing of. signal lamps withconnection to amplifier.

Figure 4 shows a diagrammatical view of the wiringof the manual monitorswitchboard for theoperation of the key circuit with emergency key. l ga Figure 5 shows the speaking clock amplifier circuit for the electriceye.

Figure 6 shows a diagrammatical view of the batteries for power supply.

Figure 7 shows a filamentcircuit.

anism connected to the fibre plate elevating rod.

1 nouncing table.

Figure 8 is a front elevational view showing the terminals of theamplifier. j i Figure 9 shows a planfview of the clutch mech Figure 10is a front elevational view of the an- Figure 11 is a plan viewof theannouncing table With the cover removed. 1

Figure 12 is a diagrammatical view of the wiring of the announcingtable.

Figure 13 showsa commutator circuit for the peg counter. :j 3 I I Figure14 is a frontelevational View of the commutator. I Like numerals ofreference indicate corresponding parts in the various figures.

Referring to'the drawings, the illustrations" include a telephonesystem'which is of the standard type. For this invention, no additionsare made to the telephone'apparatus and this is particularly emphasizedinFigures 1 to 4, and Figures 10 and '11. Figure 1 shows'thecontinuouslyrotating electric eye cooperating witha-plurality of lampsarranged in a circle in two groups'for completing the call systemindependently of the regular service, and this cooperation is vmadethrough a relay system more, particularly described hereinafter throughthe connection made i in each instance and this connectionserves to liftthe telephone receiver concerned, thus establishing a connection for thecaller, and the announcement of the'time is now over a loud speaker froman announcing table by gramophone records specially recorded toencompass every twentyfour hours per day. The manual systemdescribedhereinafter is only used when adjustments are required to the automaticannouncer.

In the manual system, standard types of ring- Ing box and lamp signalsl6 may be used in conjunction with this invention or a switch button orlever, for it is the purpose of this invention to make use of the light.rays given out by the said lamp signals 15, thereby identifying thecalling light. In the lamp signalseach group is in numerical orderaround the circle I! and an electric eye it revolves on a hollow armlfipassingover the circle, thereby creating impulses in harmony with thelamps that might be lit during the revolutionof the arm. 1

i calls; second, announcing position; third, cancelling position aftercalls have been responded switch hooks 24 by means of a small fibreplate 25 fastened to a rod which is in turn associated with a clutchmechanism 26. When the receiver is in the lifted position, the timeannouncement is given and swelled over a loud speaker and the receiveris replaced by the restoring of the relay, the fibre plate 25 being onehalf inch away from the telephone receiverv 23 when in normal position,thereby isolating the public telephone equipment from the mechanism ofthis invention.

In any city there are certain demands for a service that will providefor the giving of actual clock time upon demand usually by telephoneand, as the total of these demands is directly proportional to thenumber of connected public telephones in any particular area and thefact remains the time announcement number is always available, the sametime announcement can be given to all the connected calling parties thathappen to call simultaneously.

In Figure 4, the operating key 2'! is shown in its neutral position, andthis key has three positions, the calling position, the neutral positionand the announcing position, when the arm for the electric eye ispassing over the circle it creates impulses in harmony with the lampsthat might be lit during the revolution of the arm.

It will be seen that this invention provides a time service upon demandby telephone without connecting any Wires or mechanical attachments tothe telephone companies equipment.

The above description refers to a manual system whereby telephoneoperators move the control key on the monitor switchboard to the threeoperating positions; first, collecting all incoming to. ,Figure 4 showsa diagram of the circuits em- Figure 2 shows a mechanical method ofauto-1 matically controlling the system without the aid. of the monitorswitchboard or telephone oper-' Time announcements are made by meansators. of gramophone records 28 and 2?) specially recorded to encompassevery minute of the twentyfour hours per day. The manual system is onlyused when adjustments are required to the automatic announcer.

It will be seen from the drawings that two turntables 3% and 3! areemployed and are directly connected to a drive shaft 32 so that they arepro-announcement; for example:As an advertising announcement, the cyclewould be the record 2B announcing John Does Cigarette Time. The electricpick up is automatically lifted from the record and held clear of therecord prevent.- ing a repetition during a cycle.

The second pick up now drops on the record 29, announcing the correcttime at that particular moment, the complete announcement would then beas followszof responding to a telephone call at 10.25).

John Does .Cigarette Time-Ten Twenty- FiveDix Heure et Vinte Cinq.

Following the complete announcement, the aucuits to the announcingcondition and holds the lit or not, the otherhalf are left free for incoming calls while the time announcing is being made, and as soon as theannouncement iscompleted, the circuit holding the first group oftelephones is released and the second group is then connected and thecontinuous alternating of the two circuits causes one group to be freewhile the other is in operation. This feature is only used as anemergency and is also duplicated on the manual switchboard.

The above circuits are controlled by a series of cams 32a and contacts,as shown on the drawings; the saidcams beingattached tothe common driveshaft 33 and a two to one ratio auxil iary shaft 34 The said shafts aredirectly connected to the gramophone turn-tables 35 and 36 and driven bya synchronous type of motor 3'! to assure uniformity of speed of theturn-tables.

Two special pick ups? 38 and 39 are incorporated in the device and arejoined together with an equalizing arm Mi to assure accuracy of positionrelative to the records and the correct time, and each pick up drops onthe record by means of a cam control 45 causing an announcement to bemade. The cams are designed to permit the pick up 38 to drop and raisebefore the pick up 39 drops to make the time announcement; whentheannouncement is completed both pick ups are clear and above the records;This op eration is repeated a number of times between each successiveminute thereby announcing the same time for a period of sixty seconds.

Incorporated in the announcing machine is a graduated cam 62 with sixtydiiierent positions termed a sixty point shell which controls both pickups; this snail is driven every minute from one point to the nextthereby advancing the pick ups one space which corresponds to the nextminute space recorded on the gramophone records. When the pick ups dropa new minute will be announced. Each gramophone record has sixtydifferent announcement grooves and are automatically changed after thefifty-ninth an nouncement by the usual type of record changer withmodifications to synchronize the changes be- '1 tween announcingperiods.

A master clock 43 and a group of telephone relays transmit the oneminute impulses to the driving mechanisms, Figure 12 shows the circuitsemployed which holds the graduated snail from advancing before thecompletion of an announcement should a clock impulse be sent out duringthe cycle of announcement. The circuit operating relay DR prevents theelectric eye from col- When tator wiping brush passes over the saidcontacts and should battery current be on any particular contactassociated with one of the operated relays, it will cause the pegcounter 44 to register,

there are as many points as there are connected telephones provided foron the commutator.

Associated with the time announcement machine is an additional servicewhereby time announcements and advertising media is transmitted over ametallic circuit to any desired location remote from the announcingmachine.

The purpose of this is to permit the use of a speaking clock in publicplaces or residences whereby time announcements may be obtained by apush button or other means on the speaking clock that provides a directconnection to the announcement machine and functions as described forthe same system of demands by telephone.

- What I claim is:

1. In an electrical transmitted speaking device, a sensitive relayincorporated in an electric eye circuit, a commutator associated withsaid circuit, a revolving arm carrying said electric eye circuit causingsaid relay to pulse whenever effected by the light rays from a group oflamp.

signals and commutating another group of individual relays, a pluralityof telephones associated individually with a particular relay and lampsignal.

2. In an electrical transmitted speaking device, a sensitive relayincorporated in an electric eye circuit, a plurality of telephones, arod having a fibre plate attached thereto adapted toraise the receiverof said telephones, and a clutch mechanism associated with said shaft, aloudspeaker announcing the time when the receiver is in its raisedposition and means for replacing said receiver after the'announcementhas been made.

3. In an electrical transmitted speaking device,

" a sensitive relay incorporated in an electric eye circuit, acommutator associated with said circuit, lamp signals in two groupsplaced in a circle in numerical order, a revolving arm carrying saidelectric eye circuit and passing over the circle,

, thereby creating impulses in harmony with the lamps that might be litduring the revolution, of the arm.

4. In an electrical transmitting speaking device, a sensitive relayincorporated in an electric eye circuit, a plurality of telephones,electrical and mechanical means for raising and replacing the receiversof said telephones, an auxiliary circuit adapted to take the place'ofsaid electric eye circuit, as in emergency.

- 5. In an electrical transmitting speaking device, a sensitive relayincorporated in an electric eye circuit, a commutator associated withsaid circuit, acoustical means for transmitting time announcements, anannouncing table comprising two turn tables, a drive shaft directlyconnected to said turn tables and means for transmitting the impulsesfrom a master clock to a driving mechanism for the correct timeannouncement. ALBERT FINDLAY.

